Trains were first developed in the late 19th century and became more and more popular over time. This is until the 1960’s. The amount of people riding the trains went down to around 1 percent of the population by the end of the 60's. This hurt the railroad industry and they never fully recovered. There were many reasons for this. One of these reasons being that they were no longer necessary with all of the cars being bought. With a car purchase people could drive on their own times. They didn’t have to keep to a schedule , they could make their own. With the trains only running at a certain time they could have missed a train one day and have to wait another three hours until the next one comes. When one owns a car they can always plan on themselves and not have to worry about missing a train. One other reason why the railroad industry declined is because people were moving to the suburbs. Most of the trains did not run into the newly developed suburbs. This meant that the people that moved there must have a car to get into the city. Another reason why the railroad industry declined in the 1960’s is because once one railroad shut down then the domino effect started to take place. The first railroad the shut down was the Milwaukee Road's Chicago-Seattle/Tacoma Olympian Hiawatha. This rail road traveled across the country and was all of a sudden shut down. This event caused other railroads to be shut down because there were no more connections through any of those stations. This domino effect really hurt the railroad industry and soon there wouldn't be many railroads still in business. Lastly with the automobile becoming more popular there were more freeways being built. The freeways made it easier for cars to get around and therefore it made more people want to buy them. This also meant that railroads were being replaced with these freeways. The fact that cars were becoming so popular really took a toll on the train industry in more than one way.
The decline in the train usage shows close relations to todays views on public transportation. Today most young adults have not been on a train. Trains are not a common form of transportation in America. Today most people under the age of 30's never even think about getting on a train. Cars have taken over the younger generation and have squashed public transportation. It has become a social normality for people to own a car for just themselves. Most teenagers are getting cars when they get their liences. This showes that not only are car becoming more popular among the working world but around the younger generation too. Trains used to be the most popular form of transportation before cars and thanks to the 1960's that all changed. Without the changes of the 1960's trains may still have been as popular as the were before the 60's. The fact that people moved to suburbs made the automobile popular and trains unpopular. When thinking about public transportation the only form that is still popular today is the subway systems, bus systems, and some cities have developed a light rail system. These systems are still not as popular as cars and probably never will be.